The Winter Tyres

Once upon a time, a talented young man based in the North West of England wrote a handful of beautiful songs, set to work with his acoustic guitar and recorded them on a C90 cassette, scribbling 'Songs for a Girl to Sing' on the spine. Slipping the tape into a padded envelope, he popped to the post office and asked the kindly assistant for international stamps: desination: Belgium. Across the English channel a budding songstress waited eagerly, checking her letterbox every day....and waited....and waited.......

Skip 10 years. MP3s fly across the internet faster than you can say "dropbox" and cassettes are practically prehistoric. During a Facebook conversation with friend and songwriter Brian Bordello a couple of months back, we pondered the disappearance of said cassette and mourned the loss of interpretations that were never to be. Or were they?

All was not lost. Brian found a second copy of the cassette somewhere gathering dust in the bottom of a cardboard box and this time, the Belgian post did us proud (we were possibly a little naive to attempt the same scheme again, but hey ho). After handing it over to somebody with more advanced equipment than mine, the cassette went through a conversion process and was reborn as an MP3 file which was waiting in my inbox in next to no time at all (thanks Benjamin).

The big question for me was how to bring these magical songs to life; my guitar playing is extremely limited (I must be the only person who claims to play guitar who can't throw out a rendition of  'House of the Rising Sun') and my honest feeling was, that to do these melodies justice, I would have to devote myself exclusively to the vocals, or at least for the time being, until I gained the necessary experience and confidence to branch out.

There was only one solution and, luckily for me, friends Maria and Remy were completely on board when I made the suggestion that we form a band and, The Winter Tyres were born! Remy is an accomplished guitarist and a joy to watch on stage with his other bands The Hype and Blue Velvet. But the project I had in mind was a far cry away from the heavy grungy riffs of these other ensembles and I wasn't sure whether bitter sweet acoustic pop would be his bag. Coincidentally, he had listened to a few Bordellos' numbers on my Facebook page and was filled with the same admiration as me. Maria has never performed in a musical capacity before, but her enthusiasm and diligence has led her to master the glockenspiel in no time and some imaginative touches with maracas and cabasa are a positive addition to our music.

Sunday afternoons have now taken on a new dimension for me. Instead of lounging around in a semi-melancholy haze, channel hopping between Columbo and the Eastenders omnibus, now I have band rehearsals. Venues alternate between our respective apartments, but there is one constant: every week somebody provides sweet treats. Muffins, scones, pancakes, cupcakes, loaves - you name it - baking is the new rock 'n' roll! I've been contemplating renaming the band The Spare Winter Tyres, or even The Fat Winter Tyres, but it doesn't quite have the same ring.

I have made half-hearted attempts at pop groups before but, more often than not, it's been little more than a singsong over a few cans and nothing has ever made it out of the comfort of somebody's living room. This time, I feel like an essential part of a winning formula of creativity, productivity and good old fashioned fun. And that's what making music should be: damn good fun. Coldplay may be racking up the award nominations, but since when did it all get so serious? Don't get me wrong; music should be approached with the love and attention it deserves, but the kind of over-sincerity that seems to be in vogue these days makes my skin crawl. Massive Attack's 3D allegedly crosses the road if he spots Daddy G coming his way and, while this may well work for our miserable Bristolian friends, I would genuinely find it impossible to be at my most creative without the kind of camaraderie that I have with Maria and Remy.

Friday was our first ever gig. We played a selection of Brian Bordello's songs and added one of my tunes plus an uptempo number that Maria and Remy wrote together. We know we have a long way to go, but the reception was very positive (we were amongst friends, of course) and we enjoyed every minute and are all looking forward to the next gig, writing more songs and finding out what's in the oven next Sunday afternoon.

Now That's What I Call....a Pop Quiz!

Last week for the first time: I hosted a Pop Quiz

All has been quiet on the blog front for the past few weeks. But, despite appearances, I am still wholly committed to my endeavour of indulging in a new experience on a weekly basis. The difficult task is finding enough hours in the day to put pen to paper and share my exploits with you good people who invest your time in this nonsense.

I threw myself into January with gusto and determination and probably developed a few more wrinkles and grey hairs in the process, but all in the name of adventure and good fun. Over the past month, I have dined at an exquisite restaurant where I had my first ever five-course meal, seen a live gig featuring a hurdgy-gurdy and started my very first band, as well as viewing some great films such as Black Swan, Westworld and, my new favourite Rogers and Hammerstein number, Flower Drum Shop. I am short of breath just thinking about it.

The most time-consuming task at hand was, without doubt, the Pop Quiz that I volunteered to organise for my colleagues at the Thursday evening office bar. After witnessing a previous general knowledge quiz event, which had more in common with a history test than an alcohol-fuelled battle of wits, I decided that myself and collegaue Rebecca had what it takes to provide a night of entertainment for the hard-working, high-flying types that hang out in our building (ie nobody from my department turned up).

There were two difficulties: setting the appropriate atmosphere and pitching the questions correctly. I have been to hundreds of pop quizzes over the years, demanding varying degrees of expertise and levels of competitiveness. If you ever attend a pop quiz in Belgium, you will witness first hand a laid-back ambience where shameless cheating is totally acceptable, if not encouraged, and teams vary in size from 2 to 25 players. On the other hand, at a recent event in Holland, after arriving late, we were banished from the quizzing area as contestants fought it out in deathly silence under exam-like conditions. As most of my colleagues are from the UK, and with lessons learned from the previous office quiz, I decided to keep it light-hearted but with the healthy competitive spirit that the Brits seem to enjoy. I kept it fun but challenging, whilst bearing in mind that not everybody is as big a music nerd as I am.

My lengthy train journeys and precious iPod proved invaluable in the preparation of the 6 rounds of 20 questions that I cobbled together, which, I hasten to point out, do not in any way reflect my musical tastes:

Pictures
Simply name the artist pictured. Images of a wide variety of pop stars from Puff Daddy to Crosby Stills and Nash via Bryan Ferry wearing a very strange hat and looking nothing like Bryan Ferry. My favourite answer was from the team who mistook Kraftwerk for Los Lobos and then went on to actually try to explain the logic behind their thinking. ("We knew it was a German band...")

General Pop
2 rounds' worth of music excerpts covering all eras and genres from lame "we're not a boy band" Maroon 5 to 70s Dad rock ELO via Katy Fucking Perry.

Covers
Name the song, the artist and the original recording artist.
Contestants scored highly on this round despite my feeling that I had raised the level of difficulty. Surprisingly, nobody recognised Ian Brown's Mancunian mumblings on Billie Jean and I would really love to hear the original version of Nothing Compares to U by Dolly Parton.

Film and TV
Popular theme tunes from both the big and small screen, that people didn't spot as easily as I anticipated. A shame Spandau Ballet didn't do the Ghostbusters theme.

Don't Give Up Your Day Job
Songs recorded - or in many cases, slaughtered - by celebrities who achieved stardom via a route other than music, including classic gems from Samantha Fox (Double D for effort), William Shatner and the velvet-throated David Hasselhoff. Alas, the dulcet tones of Russell Crowe and Ricky Gervais in their respective bands The Ordinary Fear of God and Seona Dancing passed everybody by. The final few questions focussed on the previous occupations of international superstars before they picked up their first microphone. Most people know that Sting was a teacher, but who would've guessed that Cyndi Lauper once cleaned out dog kennels for a living? (although I do prefer the idea of her being a jockey as one team suggested).

With the additional bonus of Belgian special beers at the bargain price of €1,50, the evening was a resounding success. Knowledge was impressive and scores were really close with the competitive element present right until the very end. A good time was had by all, including myself and glamorous assistant Rebecca and I learned a very important lesson that I am sure will serve me well in future quizzes and perhaps if I ever enter the European Commission Concours; if all else fails, write down Tom Jones.

Will I try this again?: Round 2 in May. Maybe.